🐾 Sampling by Pheno-meow-non

Meowza hoomans,

If you have read my blog posts or follow my Instagram feed, you may have noticed that I am all about cats. And you may have asked yourself if and how scientific my obsession with cats could be. You would not be alone in that thought because people have asked me that before. But let me assure you - I am all about science and proper methodology. After all, I am a trained linguist with a PhD in dialectology and sociolinguistics and I could not do the things I do in any other way. It’s just that I have chosen to do my research on linguistic phenomena in the Cativerse.

This very first issue is dedicated to Purr Reviewer 2, whose adoptaversary is 12 November. “Purrspectives in Language” has got this in store for you:

• 🐈‍⬛ “There’s Method in My Madness” (William Shakespurr)

• 😻 A Sample of the Monthly Meowlogisms

• 😸 Research Selection of the Month

• 🎄 Book Recommendations

Get your catnip ready and enjoy your short trip into the Cativerse.

“There’s Method in My Madness” (William Shakespurr)

I do have a method, yes. My approach is called “sampling by phenomenon”, which simply means that I look at stuff through the lens of my phenomenon “cat”. [note to self: “pheno-meow-non”, another note to self: this version is a misquote actually]

So here’s how I go on about it in my six step sampling purrogramme

• 🐾 Step 1: Looking for “cat” in scientific databases

• 🐾 Step 2: Looking for “cat” within scientific articles and data. 

• 🐾 Step 3: Looking for “dog” and other pets - in case there is no “cat” - within scientific articles and data. 

• 🐾 Step 4: Trying out open source thingies with “cat” - like in open source data sets - on Github and the likes (Github has a cat as its logo)

• 🐾 Step 5: Thinking about how to link existing research to “cat”.

• 🐾 Step 6: Collecting lots of examples of “cats”

Preliminary (“Purr-liminary) Findings: it's amazing what is out there, and it's amazing how often “cat” has slipped into non-cat-specific research. 

An extended version of my sampling method is in my blog:

A Sample of the Monthly Meowlogisms

• Sampling was done on Instagram during October/November 2024

• Whatever the Instagram algorithm decided to show me and whatever I happened to look at

• Data collection: copy and paste

meowravigliosa - Italian, adjective, formed with the English meowpheme “meow” and the Italian meravigliosa, an example for morphological processes and translanguaging

Felice Hallomeow - Italian adjective-noun phrase, formed with the English meowpheme “meow” and the English word “Halloween”, an example of morphology and intrasentential language switching

meowloween - English, noun, formed with the meowpheme “meow” and the word “Halloween”, a morphological process

Happy Paw-lloween - We’re pawsitively bewitched by these frightfully cute furballs - English, here the meowpheme “paw” is used in “Halloween” and in “pawsitively”, probably to have a dog-inclusive version, “furballs” can be used for cats and dogs, examples of morphology and lexicology  [note: we have here an example of lexical variation: “Halloween” can be Hallomeow, meowloween, and Paw-lloween; also there is a spelling variation of <l/ll>]

vampurr - English, noun, formed with the meowpheme “purr” and “vampire”, a morphological process

mewns - English, noun, used in the phrase “full mewns” (full moons), with “mew” we have a spelling variant of the  meowpheme “meow”, an example of a morphological process

Catrovert /katre - vert/ Refers to a person who prefers spending time with cats over humans; unlike introverts, who prefer small groups, catrovertd may enjoy the company of large groups of cats specifically - English , noun, formed with the meowpheme “cat”, an example of lexicology [note: there is also the lexical variant “purrvert”]

Meownday - English, noun, formed with the meowpheme “meow”, an example of morphology

Purrlates class - English, noun, formed with the meowpheme “purr”, an example of morphology 

Flugfrikadellen - German, compound noun, “flying meatballs”, lexical variant for baby pigeons

Flugschnitzel - German, compound noun, “flying schnitzel”, lexical variant for birds

Purrda - English, noun, a proper name formed with meowpheme “purr”, example of morphology  

(Si apre in una nuova finestra)

[Image used with the kind permission of Matt McCarthy:

Research Selection of the Month

Disclaimer: There is no real method behind the selection of the article apart from, first, I come across it somehow, and, second, I like the topic. In this month’s case, it is the title that really spoke to me: “Predator for Hire. The curious case of man’s best independent friend, the cat”. I found it when going through Step 1 of my Six Step Purrogramme on Google Scholar. Unfortunately the article is not open access. 

Pongrácz, P., & Lugosi, C. A. (2024). Predator for hire: the curious case of man’s best independent friend, the cat. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 106168. ➡️ article (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

The article is actually a review of more than 200 sources on cat behaviour. The earliest source is from 1970 and the latest from 2023. 

The main finding is that the domestic cat's social behaviour and independence are deeply tied to their evolutionary history and unchanged feeding ecology. [note: I don’t think the authors mean the feline attitude of “my food is five minutes late and this is my last diary entry” or “The cat only likes the food that you do not have in your house right now.”]

What else does the article tell us? 

• 😸 Dual Nature of Cats: Cats maintain independence as solitary predators while forming bonds with humans and other cats.

• 🐈‍⬛ Self-Domestication: Cats self-domesticated by being drawn to human settlements for prey, without selective breeding by humans.

• 😻 Social Behaviour: Cats, despite solitary ancestry, can engage in complex social interactions with both humans and other cats.

• 🐈 Comparison with Dogs: Unlike dogs, cats show self-reliance and are less likely to seek human help, reflecting a more independent nature.

• 🐾 Feeding Ecology: Cats’ hypercarnivorous diet and instinctual hunting behaviour persist, influencing their independent tendencies.

• 📦 Behavioral Problems and Feralisation: Behavioural issues in cats stem from their wild ancestry, especially when predatory instincts clash with domestic life.

• 😻 Feralisation: Cats can revert to a feral state, posing risks to wildlife, due to their semi-domesticated nature.

Book Recommendations

In my research, I came across a few books that would make good Christmas purresents for a cat lover. Please note that I do not participate in any affiliate programme and I have just provided the links for you to easier find the books.

Michele Saquin and Pierre Rosenberg: The Well-Read Cat (2010) ➡️ possible to get here (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

This book is a wonderful collection of cat-related manuscripts found in the Bibliothéque de France. It’s a gorgeous book with awesome images.

Elizabeth Foucart Walter and Pierre Rosenberg: The Painted Cat (1988) ➡️ possible to get here (Si apre in una nuova finestra) (out of print, but available as second hand)

This book is a history of cats in Western art with lots of cat-related drawings and paintings. Very comprehensive and beautiful.

Christabel Aberconway: A Dictionary of Cat Lovers: XV century B.C.-XX century A.D (1968) ➡️ possible to get here (Si apre in una nuova finestra) (out of print, but available as second hand)

This book lists texts from cat lovers throughout the ages (in English, French, and German) and includes a history of cats in Egypt. It’s like a collector’s item.

Edith Podhovnik: Purrieties of Language. How We Talk about Cats Online (2023) [note: of course, I recommend my own book 😸]

That’s all for this month. Fank mew furry much for reading, and looking forward to dispensing my linguistic catnip to your inbox 📦 next month.

Feel free to forward this newsletter to anyone who might be interested in cats and language.